LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Forecasters say severe weather is possible in Arkansas during the Memorial Day weekend.
The National Weather Service says isolated severe thunderstorms will be possible Saturday afternoon and evening across the northern half of the state. Forecasters say the storms could produce large hail and damaging winds as well as a possible tornado.
The chance for strong thunderstorms will increase as a cold front drops south toward the state. Those storms could also become severe, with damaging winds possible with the strongest storms.
Large hail and a few brief tornadoes will also be possible as this line or complex moves south across northern Arkansas. Some locally heavy rain may also be seen, resulting in an isolated flash flood threat.
On Sunday, forecasters say scattered severe thunderstorms are possible in the state.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
23 Arkansas counties designated disaster areas after floods
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture has declared 23 Arkansas counties disaster areas after recent flooding.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson says in a news release Friday he was informed of the designation from Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue. Counties designated as disasters include Faulkner, Lonoke and Randolph.
Perdue visited the state in early May and said in his letter to the governor that there were sufficient production losses in those counties to warrant a designation.
Another 23 counties were designated contiguous disaster areas.
Farmers in eligible counties will have eight months to apply for emergency loans from the USDA’s Farm Service Agency.
FEMA is still assessing damage caused by flooding and severe storms in the northwestern part of the state in April to see if a presidential disaster declaration can be made.
Arkansas man admits Missouri courthouse bomb threats
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — An Arkansas man faces up to a decade in federal prison now that he’s admitted forcing a Missouri courthouse to be evacuated in hopes of canceling his own scheduled court hearings.
Thirty-six-year-old Phillip Ray Robison Jr. of Hartford, Arkansas, pleaded guilty Friday in Springfield, Missouri, to a federal count of maliciously conveying false information related to explosive materials.
Robison admitted that he made three separate bomb threats in January 2016, with each causing the evacuation of the Cedar County Courthouse in Stockton.
Federal prosecutors say Robison was worried that hearings pending at the time over his alleged violation in a drug-dealing conviction could send him to prison for a 120-day sentence.
No bombs were ever found.
Robison remains jailed without bond.